Sir, - I was deeply saddened by the recent death of Ms Diane Pretty from motor neurone disease. I, and many others around the world, followed the brave and protracted legal challenge Ms Pretty and her husband brought before the British and European Union court systems, albeit to no avail.
Isn't it ironic that committed humanitarians are fighting the political system in Europe to allow the suffering terminally ill to die with dignity, while in other areas of the world anti-death-penalty crusaders are fighting to prevent the political system from executing individuals and thus allow them to live in dignity?
Perhaps the answer to this very sensitive paradox lies not within the bounds of laws devised and enforced by mankind, but in the indomitable human spirit. Rest in peace, Diane Pretty. I salute you! - Yours, etc.,
EDWARD D. RAFFERTY,
Grattan Terrace,
Wexford.